Tag Archives: N Gauge Bulleid coaches

Fisherton Sarum, General, Talking Stock

Talking Stock #27 4mm Bulleid coaches – new R-T-R on the way?

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The topic of Bulleid coaches has come to the fore again via a number of mediums. Firstly; the new Graham Farish Bulleid coaches in 2mm N gauge have hit the shops, a good review of them by Nigel Burkin can be found on the Model Railways Live website here. Secondly; current Model Rail magazine editor Ben Jones included a bit of crystal ball gazing in his editorial within the magazines Winter issue No. 191 mentioning that an upgrade of the now long in the tooth Bachmann 4mm Bulleid coaches as a possibility for being announced this year, on the basis of the additional research having been carried out for the all new Graham Farish versions.

The original Bachmann 4mm  Bulleid coaches  were first introduced back in 1993 and were before the level of detail on the subsequently introduced BR Mk1 coaches such as close coupling, flush glazing, separate water tank filer pipes / end handrails and finer underframe detail, it does leaves the Bulleid range slightly lacking.  Further information on these models can be found on the page I wrote on the Southern Email Group website here.

Both the new Graham Farish and old Bachmann Bulleid coaches are based on the BR 1950’s built versions reflecting the type of underframe detail and the most obvious feature of the BR Built examples the 15″ deep window vents as opposed to the Southern Built versions with 10″ deep vents.

My modelling time frame of 1946 to 1949  therefore excludes the Bachmann versions so I have had to look elsewhere for the coaches in my fleet.

3  coach multidoor set no. 984

First up is 3 coach set no. 984 comprising of Bulleid 63ft Multidoor stock (i.e. a door for each compartment)  first introduced in early 1946 built from the now unfortunately unavailable Southern Pride kits. This type of kit comprises of a pre printed colour overlay on a clear shell giving a near flush glaze effect. I have two of these three coach rakes although I do feel their version of malachite to be slightly on the bright green side of the spectrum. Although the Bulleid kits are no longer available from Southern Pride they are still a valuable source of coach detailing parts.

2 coach set no.63

Following on from the multidoor stock, later in 1946, Bulleid introduced a new design layout with compartments no longer having individual doors and access being via the corridors and vestibules . These as explained above had 10″ deep ventilators which easily identifies them from the later BR built versions. Illustrated left is 2 coach set no.63,  built from Southern Railway Group’s Phoenix (ex BSL) range of aluminum bodied kits, comprising of Semi open brake 3rd No. 4371 (kit reference SC50) and Brake Composite No. 6700 (SC51)

3 Coach set no. 771

My Set no. 771 also built from SRG Phoenix kits comprises of Semi open brake 3rd No. 4303 (SC50), Corridor Composite No. 5752 (SC52) and Semi open brake 3rd No. 4304 (SC50) This is usually coupled to Set 63 when on Fisherton Sarum. Like the prototype I use buckeye couplings between my coaches in their rakes and screw couplings at the outer ends.

I confess to having built these some years ago now and they do still lack some further detailing such as door hinges and handles etc. that some day I will go back to and fit, but as when running on Fisherton Sarum they are viewed from the 6th away it does not get noticed (I now await the first person to make a comment at the next about it…). There are a few other variants of Bulleid coaches and some of these will be the subject of further posts as I have one of Bulleid’s first 3 coach multidoor sets on the workbench that were built on Maunsell style 59ft underframes.

I can not say at this point if Bachmann will update their 4mm Bulleid coaches or not but If they do my guess is that they will still, as per the Graham Farish range, be the later 1950 BR built versions.

Exhibitions, General, Model News, RT Models

That was the Warley that was…from a Southern perspective

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As per my post last week I attended the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition Last weekend assisting Hornby Magazine editor Mike Wild operate his Topley Dale layout at its first and last public outing.  This post is a brief round up of some of the updates and news items from the show with a Southern / BR(s) theme.

Often Warley is a good place to show off the latest products under development and their status with either Engineering Prototype (EP) samples or livery sample models.

Bachmann / Farish

The first EP of the Farish 3rd Series Merchant Navy (picture courtesy of A York)

Bachmann had nothing new from a Southern perspective in 4mm scale but Graham Farish in N Gauge had the first Engineering Prototype of the 3rd Series Merchant Navy in original air smoothed form. They are initially releasing 3 livery of variants of the this 3rd series original style Merchant Navy with 6000 gallon tender, this is the first EP available and has not previously been seen.
Also in the Bachmann / Farish display cabinets were liveried samples of the N Gauge Bulleid Coaches in BR(s) Green and very nice they looked too.

Hornby

Hornby did not have anything new on display for us Southern fans, although their LNER P2 (which Bulleid did have an input with) looks a stunning model! The will be making their announcement for the 2014 range on December 16th at 10am and I will post then to advise of any Southern content…

Dapol

The first off EP of the 0 gauge 25t ‘Pill Box’ brake van (even planked right hand ducket version) was on show along with the first EPs for the Maunsell Coaches and Van C in N gauge, all announced back in July 2012 . I have been asked by Dapol to review and offer advice on their Southern models under development so watch this space for further updates.

Heljan

The week before the show Heljan announced a couple of new items including a Metropolitan Bo-Bo electric locomotive, familiar to many as Sarah Siddons, this does has a slight relevance to this blog as it has run on Southern metals for a couple of railtours, once to Portsmouth and once to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent ( I was on both tours) along with plans to announce a further new item at the show itself. This further item is a retooled Class 33/0 locomotive and they had EP’s on the stand. The announcement of this model in their own range follows a legal issue with Rail Express magazine that had originally commissioned it via Heljan.

RT Models 

Robert had on his RT Models stand brand new white metal castings for SR Style stepped locomotive buffers. Those on the market currently are a slight compromise as they are generally sold as being LNER/SR stepped buffers, so Robert has produced a very fine casting totally accurate for the Southern version and very fine it is indeed.

Model Rail Magazine

And finally; no this is not another plug for the December issue that features Fisherton Sarum but they have advise that they are in discussion with both Bachmann and Heljan regarding some further model livery commissions in the form of a Bachmann Desiro unit as 450 class in South West Trains Livery and also an exclusive livery version of the new tooled Heljan Class 33/0 model, further details will I am sure be announced in due course.

General, Model News

Continental kippers! – a Brighton Belle in N Gauge from Arnold

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It might sound a little left field but continental manufacturer Arnold have yesterday announced a Brighton  Belle set in N Gauge and that will be in the British 1.148 scale rather then the usual continental 1.160 scale.

This is not perhaps as odd as it might seem as Arnold are part of the Hornby International stable and therefore have access to the information that Hornby used for their 4mm version in the UK.
A German flyer about the models to be produced in both Umber & Cream and Blue & Grey liveries is worth a look , and can be seen here, ignoring some of the obvious inaccuracies in the text which can be spotted even in German!

British N Gauge modellers will of course be pleased that it is to be manufactured in the establish British 1.148 scale and perhaps this might lead to other British prototypes appearing the Arnold range.

Hornby have already in the past dabbled slightly in British N Gauge with their now unfortunately ceased range ‘Liddle End’ of  very nice cast resin buildings that we similar to their very good 4mm big brothers in the Scaledale range. With Dapol announcing both SR / BR(s) locos and Maunsell coaches following the Farish announcement of Original Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacifics and Bulleid Coaches last year it appears to be a good time for Southen in N Gauge!

Another announcement of potential interest from the Hornby International stable under the Rivarossi brand is the USA 0-6-0 tank in HO. The body is therefore the wrong scale and lacks the modifications made by the SR for their USA tanks, however the chassis might be useful under perhaps a SE Finecast kit?  There is of course already the announcement earlier in the year of the Model Rail commission via Dapol of a 4mm SR USA tank which will be the best option for 4mm modellers.

 

General, Kernow Models, Model News

Bachmann and Farish Southern related Work in Progress

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This post is just a quick update from  Bachmann (00) and Farish (N) on where Southern Railway / Southern Region related previously announced models are within work in progress.

Firstly Bachmann,  in 00 gauge, where the main good news is that the 25t ‘Pill Box’ brake vans have gone through production and are on the high seas to us as I type. A review of these models will be posted on this blog soon. Also the C class has now been approved for production to commence. In other SR related news the  SR PLV/PMV & CCT 4 wheel luggage vans announced in March this year are still at the development stage prior to entering the drawing office. The Class 205 ‘Thumper’ for the Kernow Model Centre is currently at the livery sample stage awaiting sign off before production can commence.

With respect to Farish, in N gauge, the 25t ‘Pill box’ brake vans have been release for production. Also following their announcement in March this year the Bulleid coaches are in the drawing office whilst the Original Style Merchant Navy pacifics along with the SR Van U (BR CCT) are at the Development stage prior to entering the drawing office.